One of my favorite films of that period, moving from the 60’s into the 70’s, was High Plains Drifter. If you’re not familiar with the film, there’s a paranormal element to it. The music for the song, the third track on the EP, was not meant to be specifically music for that film, but it was once it was written, I immediately thought it conveyed the same sentiment as the film, so the piece was christened accordingly. The music for “High Plains Drifter” initially came from a Flamenco piece I had written. It was a two-and-a-half-minute piece, and I really liked it, but it was one of those riffs that would be hard to integrate into Metallica. I knew I wanted to do something with it, even though it came out spontaneously. I had been sitting outside messing around with a Flamenco acoustic guitar I’d just bought, and it flowed out in the moment. I was determined it would have a life. It would have its moment.

That’s the first piece I played for Edwin, and he said, “We have to do something with this!” I agreed, and the result of that collaboration is “High Plains Drifter”. I think it came out great, and one of the things I love about this song is that I got to cycle through a whole bunch of different guitar techniques that I’m not particularly known for.

I also like that while I still consider it an instrumental, it has the only vocals on the EP. That was Edwin’s idea. We got the vocalist, Eliza Bagg, to come into the studio, and she just did a fantastic job. She nailed it.

—Kirk Hammett